Talking of Samira Ahmed...
Of all the Twitter complaints that can be made about Dateline London - and there are often complaints (along the lines made on this blog for years) that the programme has a pronounced left-liberal bias and too little variety of viewpoints - only one has been picked up and run with by Newswatch presenter Samira Ahmed on Twitter:
Samira Ahmed @SamiraAhmedUK 19h19 hours ago Seeing some viewer concerns re politicians on journos' forum #DatelineLondon. Send thoughts to @newswatchbbc. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08l99r9
The politician in question was Michael Gove.
Given that Samira has also used her Twitter feed to encourage viewers to contact the programme and complain about the presence of Nigel Farage on various programmes, it's not the first time that she's asked for viewers to 'send' in their 'thoughts' on stopping certain (right-wing) politicians from getting invited onto BBC programmes.
I think her mask of impartiality on Newswatch is slipping dangerously.
That said, maybe Dateline isn't the place for politicians of any political hue to appear, even those who write for The Times.
I assumed she was talking about Nick Clegg undertaking the role of BBC reporter on Newsnight with not a word of explanation!
ReplyDeleteJust had a look at the responses to that. Talk about Complaints From Both Sides. The BBC never questions Farage on anything?
ReplyDelete